Category Archives: Biological Sciences

One of the most memorable things when learning about the 18th century Canadian fur trade in history class was how the Europeans spread diseases to the indigenous peoples by means of the trade. One of such diseases is tuberculosis, which infectious disease specialist Caitlin Pepperell and colleagues at Standford University in Palo Alto, California have been studying. In the new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they have puzzled out why TB didn’t become an epidemic until after the fur trade era even though the indigenous peoples of western Canada were repeatedly exposed to the strain by French Canadian voyageurs during 1710 – 1870.

Canadian Fur Trade / Source:Cartouche from William Faden

It wasn’t until the late 1800s that TB epidemics began to break out, which was about 150 years from the first introduction. Pepperell explains that the conditions most likely to trigger epidemics in Canada were the relocation of the native peoples onto reservations, declining health conditions with relocation, and the biggest factor of them all, malnutrition. The key message from the results indicates that TB is infectious and remains dormant in host until stressful conditions – crowding, poor nutrition, weakening hosts – give the bacteria a leg up and turns on into active mode.

TB Culture / Source: CDC

Pepperell first discovered the same TB strain signature, or “fingerprint” in the native peoples of Quebec and a French Canadian population that didn’t live near the native communities when she received a DNA profile of the bacteria in the latter from a colleague. After using mathematical modeling and statistical analysis, they were able to trace the spread back to the 18th century, which was when waves of French traders carrying TB came to Canada and married indigenous women, resulting in the disease remaining latent in the native communities for several decades until the pressures of relocation and shortage of buffalo occurred.

Tuberculosis’s stealth nature has had it difficult to combat the disease without knowing how it spreads. The World Health Organization estimates that 1/3 of the people on Earth are infected with the disease. The new findings of the study can only point out how tenacious the disease actually is, bring us one step closer to understanding the tuberculosis bacterium and how we can control it.

There is a new drug that can target and block harmful metal ions in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. This drug developed by Dr. Chris Orvig from the University of British Columbia, is known as a chelating drug, which means it grabs hold of its target and makes it unable to do more damage. This is a massive breakthrough for treating Alzheimer’s disease, for which there is no cure.

This research is very important because you can only treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and the leading treatments do a very poor job and targeting the affected brain cells. Dr. Orvig’s model drug has a sugar molecule to help deliver it to the brain. It is a very innovative idea, and there have been no previous Alzheimer’s drugs that are effective at getting the drug into the brain.

One of the effects of Alzheimer’s is neurodegeneration, which means the brain cells die. As these brain cells die, the patients lose their memory and motor skills, making it hard for them to live on their own. These patients then require family members and or caregivers to help with daily activities like preparing food and bathing. This takes a large emotional and financial toll on the patient’s family.

Photo from Google images

The actual causes of the disease are not known very well, because there may be many factors that contribute to this disease. But it is known that Alzheimer’s is not genetically inherited, although some genes may contribute to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. For more information about what causes Alzheimer’s disease listen to our podcast!

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The following video does a great job summarizing Dr. Orvig’s research and what Alzheimer’s disease is all about.

There is hope that research like Dr. Orvig’s will eventually lead to a better understanding of this disease and eventually a cure.

UBC researchers have developed a new test that promises to overcome current issues and increase the reliability of screening.

By Amanda Au, Navi Dasanjh, Kushani Jayasundera and Martha Talbot

Dr. Eric Lagally, an assistant professor and researcher at the University of British Columbia, believes he has discovered a new method of detecting prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men, yet the two current tests for prostate cancer are inadequate and often give false positives and negatives. Being able to correctly identify prostate cancer cells could reduce the rates of misdiagnosis and over treatment.

Dr. Lagally’s new detection method looks at an enzyme called telomerase, which helps prevent premature cell death. He uses this molecule to help differentiate between cancerous cells and normal cells more precisely using a technology known as microfluidics.

Learn more about telomerase by listening to this UBC Mastermind Productions’ Podcast.

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Microfluidics allows researchers to analyze small fluid samples using a chip the size of a postage stamp etched with miniscule channels and chambers. The width of these channels and chambers is similar to the width of a human hair. The small scale allows researchers to precisely test small samples.

Microfluidic chips like the ones that Dr. Lagally uses in his lab.

Currently, microfluidics is being used for many biomedical applications, such as DNA analysis. This new technology boasts many advantages, including the ability to analyze very small fluid samples at a minimal cost and with little power. This may also be quite beneficial to the new prostate cancer screening method Dr. Lagally hopes to implement. As he points out, the use of microfluidic chips will enable doctors, nurses, and other health practitioners to analyze test results at the bedside, eliminating the need to transfer samples to a testing facility.
As of today, Dr. Lagally’s microfluidic test is a long way from human applications. Alterations need to be made to the chip, which will then face gaining the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a process that could take up to ten years.

As Dr. Lagally works on the process of transferring this technology from the lab to the clinic, he is also educating the public about microfluidics. He speaks about microfluidics and has developed a method of teaching students microfluidics by fabricating their own large-scale chip out of Jello. Try it yourself!

By educating the public, as well as other researchers, the hope is that this technology will be able to make a smooth transfer so that microfluidics can begin to positively affect people who are in desperate need of this technology.

Posted onApril 10, 2011bypaula|Comments Off on Could DNA testing for genetic conditions lead to a society supporting eugenics?

The BBC recently wrote an article regarding the genetic test that was approved, allowing people to get tested for genetic conditions before pregnancy. Though this test has the potential to be very beneficial and prevent people from creating families if they would be at a high risk of carrying a genetic disorder if they so choose, it also has the potential to create a stigma around people who test positive for genetic disorders.

Upon being tested and finding positive results, would our society then tell those people that they should be be banned from having families and children? Knowing that you had a higher chance of carrying a genetic disorder would perhaps cause one to feel as though they had a moral obligation to be tested to prevent the disease from being passed onto others. This would cause a stigma on those who test positive for any such diseases.

This video shows another aspect of the implications of having genetic testing done.

The definition of eugenics as given by the Apple dictionary says it is, “The science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.” By using technology that can be available to us because of a progression in research is not always a good idea. By implementing this as a normal test into health care systems, there would be a great possibility that our society would lead to being in favor of eugenics.

Other factors which would be a greater concern to Americans, would deal with wether or not health insurance companies could take this information into account, or even have mandatory testing for certain groups of people. This is not a topic to be taken lightly, but rather one that should be well thought out before the test is planned to be used on a regular basis which could have negative impacts on our generation.

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“One of the predators missing from the documented literature is the harbour seal”, saysAusten Thomas, a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia.

In 2008, Austen led an exciting research project examining the feeding behaviour of harbour seals in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, off the coast of Washington state. Austen was interested in finding out whether harbour seals have different feeding patterns during the winter spawning season of Pacific herring — a species which comes into close proximity with the seals when they move inshore to lay their eggs. Austen wanted to know whether the seals made use of the increased herring numbers when they occurred conveniently nearby. Surprisingly, he found that the seals did not catch more spawning herring during winter spawning season in general, choosing instead to catch young, small fish. This behaviour allows for the successful laying and hatching of a new generation of herring.

We set out to find out more about how Austen carried out his research; how he used equipment and analysis to track seals and uncover their feeding habits and diet; and what the “bigger picture” implications of his work are. The below video tells the story of Austen’s research.

Austen and his team use glue to attach the TDR-GPS combo to a seal. Austen Thomas photo.

As mentioned in the video, Austen used Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and time depth recorders (TDR) to understand where and when harbour seals most frequently feed. Both the GPS and TDR use satellites to pinpoint the seals location and monitor their diving behaviour at their feeding grounds. While the GPS revealed movement of the seals around their home, Protection Island, the TDR showed the diving depth patterns of seals. The tracking devices showed Austen how the seals movements matched up with the movement of the Pacific herring population.

A seal makes a break for home after getting outfitted with the tracking devices. The devices are designed to come off when the seal molts. Whether they floated as planned is another story. Austen Thomas photo.

seal scat. Austen Thomas photo.

In addition to tracking seal movement through space and time, Austen also collected and analyzed harbour seal feces, or scats. This portion of his research allowed him to identify the species and age of fish consumed.

Collecting seal scat for diet analysis. Austen Thomas photo.

Scat analysis was done by examining the bone remains under a microscope. Specifically, looking at the otoliths (the inner ear bone of the fish) that remained in seal fecal samples enabled Austen to identify age, size, and species of the fish consumed. This research revealed how much of different-aged Pacific herring was being eaten during different times of the year.

Besides learning about Austen’s research, we wanted to find out about the broader impacts of his work. For example, his work has potential implications for both local fisheries and the Species at Risk Act (SARA), which is used to guide resource management efforts. In the following podcast, we discuss the “bigger picture” context that Austen’s research fits into.

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Austen’s research sheds light on unexpected feeding behaviour of the seals residing on Washington’s Protection Island. These findings are not only interesting; we will likely see that Austen’s discovery of surprising seal feeding patterns contributes to shaking up common understanding of this marine ecosystem.